Lisbon Trip Report

Just returned from three nights in Lisbon. Great city, and great food. We also were in Madrid and Sevilla on this trip, and we found the food in Portugal to be infinitely better. If you're on the peninsula and want to eat well then make sure you fit Portugal into your plans.

Some highlights:

We drove from Madrid and targeted Mealhada in mid-northern Portugal as our stop for lunch. The scenic drive alone is worth the trip, but this is the epicenter of leitoa - roast suckling pig. We ate at "Pedro de Leitoes", which is on N-1 just north of N-234. I guess the restaurant has a menu, but I didn't see anyone bother with it - you just order the leitao and some wine. Spectacular pork, a thing of beauty. The skin is roasted to a golden brown crackly crust like a good roast duck, and the meat is garlicky/peppery savory, juicy and delicious. Served with a spicy molho (sauce) on the side which is a great complement. Comes with a better than average tossed salad, good fresh fried potato chips, some bread and that's it - simple and perfect.

Would be tough to top this meal, but "Tasquinha de Adelaide" in the Campo de Ourique barrio of Lisbon did. The place is tiny, maybe ten tables so make sure you make a reservation. They have a rather extensive menu, but you come here for the roasted leg of lamb. This is a remarkably good dish - maybe the finest red meat I've ever eaten. It only comes as a portion for two, so if you come with your spouse beg/plead/bribe them into agreeing to split this dish. My wife doesn't like lamb but she loved this, they won't regret it. Comes to the table served in its roasting pan, and the meat has a crunchy deep dark addictive crust. The meat is juicy, garlicky and herby, sweet and tender without a hint of gaminess. A sneakily major amount of garlic is used in the rub, along with fresh herbs dominated by rosemary and some mint. Accompanied in the roasting pan by superb portuguese yellow potatoes and a generous portion of what I think were braised dandelion greens, everything swimming in the pan juices. Really nice wine list with some great and very reasonably priced reserva Douro's. Just an awesome meal. The kitchen is the size of a pantry, I popped in after dinner to thank the chef and she showed me where all this magic takes place - an old cast iron oven maybe the size of what you find in a home. Amazing. I have no idea how they fit all these pans in the oven, it's a loaves and fishes thing.

We arrived on May Day, so three of our planned dining choices went out the window because they were closed due to the holiday. Concierge finally got us a reservation at "Lisboa a Noite" in the Bairro Alto. I'd heard it was touristy, but it was a pleasant surprise. Not nearly as good as Tasquinha de Adelaide, but it was a very decent meal and a huge wine list - plus you're surrounded by lots of eye candy, plenty of model types accompanied by their "uncles". We ordered pork, which was ok but I saw a lot of people ordering the roast leg of lamb - which came to the tablesides looking suspiciously like a copy of Tasquinha de Adelaide's. The couple at the table next to us were eating it and they said it was pretty tasty. By the looks of it I believed them.

If your wife wants to shop, the "Cafe a Brasileira" on Rua Garrett is a great place to while away the time as she hits the stores. This is in the middle of the Chiado shopping district, and if Hemingway would have made it to Lisbon this is where he would have drank. Great people watching on the outdoor terrace, bring your mirrored wraparound shades. The "pasteis de bacalhau" (deep fried cod fritter) is a tasty snack, even though they served it cold. I had to ask the waitress three times for some piri-piri sauce, but do NOT eat these without it.

The restaurant in the Castelo Sao Jorge is also surprisingly good for a tourist place. The view is incomparable, you sit on the castle ramparts and have a remarkable vista of the entire downtown of Lisboa and the Tejo river. The clay-tiled roofs of the old whitewashed houses sweep out below you on the hillside, and you can sit there for hours mesmerized by the beauty of this city. Oh yeah, they have a pretty ambitious menu too with some nice fresh fish simply prepared. Expensive and I'm sure there's better fish to be had in Lisbon, but given that view I think it was fairly priced.

We tried making it across the river to Cacilhas for lunch. Our hotel gave us a map that showed two ferry boat routes going to Cacilhas - one from Praca de Comercio and the other from Cais de Sodre. I mentally flipped a coin and went to the port at Praca de Comercio...wrong. The watefront is under construction at that point and the only ferry to Cacilhas leaves from Cais de Sodre. So if you want to combine a trip to Belem with lunch across the river, make sure you get off the electric tram at Cais de Sodre before you get all the way back to Baixa.

Memorable place, and some great good. You'll enjoy it.

Great information. Obrigado.